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Sunday, July 22, 2012

From the readers: Abandoned places, School for Indian Girls and more

Y'all have come through once again with a great collection of insights, comments, great links and more. I greatly appreciate it when you take the time to share your thoughts about Papergreat. Here are your most recent contributions:

Victorian trade card for James Pyle's Pearline Washing Compound: Elizabeth Handler, whose terrific genealogy blog From Maine to Kentucky played a key part in the researching of this item, writes: "Thanks for the reference to my blog! You've got some great links here. You can also search eBay on Pyle Pearline and see what's available for sale. I've always found it fascinating that so many of these Victorian era advertising cards have survived. And what variety!"

Linda H.: "Lose the gelatine, use vodka instead of cold water and put the olives on a little plastic sword. NOW that will make you twinkle!"

Cindy Snyder: "Tomato Twinkle is actually an aspic (as·pic/ˈaspik/) -- a jelly made with meat or fish stock, usually set in a mold and used as a garnish. If you Google tomato aspic, you will see some pictures of this retro salad. I'm sure Joan and Sarah will be anxious to make one for you."

My response: "Well, I Googled "tomato aspic." My heavens, the horror!! Why, why, why did people put OLIVES in those things? And this one might be the worst way to waste shrimp that I've ever seen."

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Manger scene at St. Mary's Episcopal School for Indian Girls: Elizabeth Conway writes: "I found a copy of 'The Bugle', the quarterly bulletin of St Mary's Episcopal School from March 1978 among the papers belonging to my aunt. She was a member of the DAR and they supported the School for Indian Girls. There was a picture of a snowy roadway with the rear of the manger that couldn't be removed until it thawed. They had had 68 consecutive days with the temperature below freezing."

Thanks for writing, Elizabeth! Here are a couple more vintage postcards from St. Mary's Episcopal School for Indian Girls in Springfield, South Dakota:

Above: The caption on the back states: "The School Chapel - Ascension Church."

Above: The caption on the back states: "View from Bluffs of school campus showing Lewis and Clark Lake and across the river - the state of Nebraska."

OK, folks. Sounds like that could be a whole followup post, after some research. (And we do like a good mystery.) Any ocean-liner experts out there?

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1952 booklet: "What Your Family Should Know — ABOUT TEETH!": JT Anthony of A Pretty Book writes: "I love that as I'm viewing this post, Google served me ads for 'Fly to a Great Smile, Premium dental travel service. A trip to the dentist, only better', 'Kool Smiles Dentistry', and 'Kids Teeth Brushing Games' along with a hydromulching service and lawn mower repair. I wonder how Google's ad algorithm works to make such a connection. And for sure, I need some premium dental travel." [Note from me: This reminds me of the wonderful moment when Spam advertised on Papergreat.]

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Delving into Henry K. Wampole & Company: Lisa WRS writes: "I love your information. One of my family names is Wampole and they resided in the Philadelphia area. I am currently trying to connect the family history I have to see if he is listed! I had never heard of the company until I bought a 1930s bottle with his Preparation label on it and I bought it for the family name. There is definitely always more to our family stories!!! Thanks again for the history lesson."

Anonymous: "Neat photos! To me, the 'big old house' in Bennington looks like an old hotel or inn. Or rooming house." [Note from me: Or possibly an orphanage. That one should be pretty easy to research, if I can get around to it.]

Wendyvee: "Those are great! Seneca Rocks has been on my 'to-do' list. I've actually been there before; but it was before I took a real interest in vintage stuff. I hope that great old motor company building is still there when I go! I love the signage on the Golden Rule store. This is my favorite old building from my travels.[Note from me: Love those shots of the Webster Wagner Mansion. And it's wonderful how one commenter swooped in with all of those details about the building's history.]

John Myers (on Facebook): "You should take the train between Washington and New York sometime. You would see three hours of properties that are worse than this ... with some of the worst just north of the Baltimore station!"

Ted E. Palik (on Facebook): "I love pics of old rundown abandoned buildings and deserted landscapes. I like to imagine what they might have been like."

Dana DiFilippo (on Facebook): "I love these! Free Manson, creepy! And I think I want a catnapper recliner! We have a good friend, Kevin J. Miyazaki, who has done some amazing photography of abandoned places, including fast-food eateries ... you can see some of his work here.[Note from me: Great link! Thanks. I will be adding that to my "Cool Stuff Elsewhere" rail.]

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Saturday's postcards: Two greetings from 100+ years ago: Jim Fahringer writes: "This is so neat. I have been collecting postcards for 40 years but it never occurred to me to do genealogical research on the writers and recipients. I guess I started collecting before the PC and Internet. Thanks for sharing this added interesting side to postcard collecting. I will definitely get out some of my oldest cards and try to do research on them."

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About the Author

I'm Chris Otto, a Pennsylvania resident and journalist whose hobbies and interests include old books, ephemera, history, folklore, alpacas, photography and much more. Never stop reading, learning and asking questions! I consider this blog to be a spiritual descendant of Microsoft Encarta and a companion to Wikipedia. Every piece of paper tells a story.
Reach me at chrisottopa (at) gmail.com.

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